1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the technical field of microwave electronics, in particular to microwave components (amplifiers and attenuators) in which an active paramagnetic material is energized by an optical source and transfers this energy to a resonant microwave circuit or resonant cavity. The characteristics of this device are controllable by an external magnetic field. A particular application of this technology is to power a compact linear particle accelerator that is energized by an optical source and utilizes an active paramagnetic medium to transfer this energy to a charged particle beam.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventional microwave amplifiers use solid state or vacuum tube technology to add energy to a low level signal while maintaining the same frequency and phase characteristics of the input signal. In these technologies electrical energy supplied to the circuit provides the energy to amplify the signal. Furthermore, control of the gain and frequency characteristics of the device if present also make use of electrical signals. While it is possible to add components and circuitry to provide external control (via a magnetic field) or to energize the amplifier using and optical source of energy, these options are not intrinsically part of the amplifier.
Conventional linear particle accelerators use a high frequency microwave or radio frequency (RF) generator for energizing a resonant cavity to transfer energy to a charged particle beam. The resonant cavity is commonly comprised of a metallic shell fitted with a series of copper disks inside the shell. In addition, a vacuum channel is provided through the center of the disks to transmit charged particles along the central symmetry axis. An alternative technique substitutes a dielectric tube in place of the disks.
In such embodiments, the use of existing materials with sufficiently large high field breakdown strength form limitations on the cost, size and weight. Similarly, the mechanisms for generating the energy necessary to accelerate the particles as rapidly as possible also lead to large cost, weight, and space requirements. This is particularly problematic for the use of accelerators as research instruments for universities or for applications at small or remote medical facilities.
Further, the size requirements of present technology accelerators preclude any portable applications, for example, for explosive or contraband material detection.
Further still, the lack of phase balance or other controls of the charged particle beam and the accelerating wave in such accelerators lowers the acceleration efficiency.
The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The present invention is an electronic technology that uses a paramagnetic material energized by an optical pump signal to transfer microwave energy to a circuit or a particle beam.